Bill Tieleman is one of BC's best known communicators, political commentators and strategists.
Bill writes a politics column Tuesdays in 24 Hours newspaper and The Tyee online magazine.
Bill has been Communications Director in the B.C. Premier's Office and at the BC Federation of Labour.
Bill owns West Star Communications, a consulting firm providing strategy and communication services for labour, business, non-profits and government.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Political operatives want to stay secret, new witness named who sought anonymity at Basi-Virk BC Court of Appeal hearing

5:30 p.m. - Several “political operatives” and an individual with information about key Crown witness Erik Bornmann and the Liberal Party have all tried to shield their identities from the public in the B.C. Legislature raid case, the B.C. Court of Appeal was told Wednesday.

The new information came from defence counsel testimony in a hearing over a secret witness in the trial of three provincial government aides facing corruption charges.

Special Prosecutor Bill Bearardino is asking the court to overturn a B.C. Supreme Court ruling that defence lawyers be present to hear the testimony of a secret witness in the trial of David Basi, Bob Virk and Aneal Basi.

“Someone who has material evidence – one of the political operatives there are so many of who have requested anonymity – the defence will have no opportunity for response in providing a full defence,” Bolton said.

And Aneal Basi’s lawyer Joe Doyle named another potential witness who was denied secret status.

“Mr. Jas Sekhon wanted to be a police informant,” Doyle said. “He goes on to describe details about the Liberal Party and Bornmann – I won’t go into that.”

Outside court Doyle declined to identify Sekhon further or confirm exact spelling of the name or say which Liberal Party – federal or provincial – he was referring to. Former provincial lobbyist Erik Bornmann is the Crown’s key witness in the case.

Berardino defended the Crown’s position on the secret witness request.

“If we could give the court a three to four minute synopsis it would be crystal clear why defence counsel should be excluded,” he said.

Berardino argued that Justice Elizabeth Bennett, the presiding judge in the BC Supreme Court case of Basi, Virk and Basi, had erred in ruling the defence lawyers could be in the courtroom to hear testimony about the secret witness from police.

"There is no evidence for the trial judge to make such a finding," Berardino said. "The Crown has never said this is not a clear case of a confidential police informant....we have refrained from it."

Berardino also said the defence had exaggerated the degree of secrecy that would result from the witness giving testimony in the absence of counsel for the accused.

"All of the information at the in-camera hearing - without identifying the informant - would be disclosed to the defence," he told the court.

It appeared initially that the three-person panel of judges might issue an immediate ruling late in the afternoon. Chief Justice Lance Finch told the courtroom that he, Justice Ian Donald and Justice Catherine Ryan required a break because: "We're not quite clear howe we're going to do this."But after a 25-minute recess Finch came back to say that judgment in the three-day hearing would be reserved, with no timeline for that decision.BC Supreme Court Justice Bennett will hold a case update on June 20 and is scheduled to reconvene the pre-trial hearing on June 30. It is unclear whether the Court of Appeal will issue a decision before either date or whether it could have an impact on the BC Supreme Court proceeding.NOTE - A shorter version of this story will appear in 24 hours newspaper on Thursday.

When are the lawyers going to start calling a spade a spade rather than saying that they have a witness who is a "police informant"...... they make it sound as if the witness is a crook. If he's a political operative working, or did work, in the dungeons of a BC Liberal think tank, why not just call him a whistle blower and be done with it. There is legislation in place that covers whistleblowers, although the author of the legislation (Gordo) never intended it to be used against him to prove that three of his aides were doing something that would bring the law into the legislative buildings.

Where is Michael Morton (Gordo's former Communications Guy) in all this? His name doesn't appear but he must know a lot about what was going on.Bill, you may be able to sell this as a crime novel--if it ever ends.

It's a fact of life that lawyers make a lot of money protecting their clients, who usually pay the bills. In this case, the people we elected are getting the funds from all the tax payers and that is a very deep set of pockets. We all find it sort of sleazy but that's what the legal guys do for a living. We can all speculate just who they are working to protect, and we all have some ideas who that might be. Saying so gets one sued or put the blogger in a position of her or him getting sued. A crown prosecutor is put there by a supposedly, independent of government interference system. It may be planned to grind on past the next election, who knows? Not me for sure. Only in BC could the Legislature get raided and years later we really don't have much of a clue who if anyone is the wrong guys. Toss in a thousand year lease on a railway that was making money for us all but just had to go and we now see the mess. We live in interesting times. Money always talks and the more involved the bigger the hush factor, throw in a few friends of friends and it really gets weird. I look forward to the actual trial with interest. I figure the judge has a similar interest.

Does anyone believe this affair will not end by charges being stayed? With due respect to Mr. Berardino, is he truly independent of the Campbell Government if his law firm bills substantial fees after acting for provincial crown for this and other cases?

The link takes a reader to the judgement by J. Grauer, in favour of a family that was libeled in the Abbotsford/Mission Times. Damages exceeded $200,000. I have seen no reporting of the case in our major newspapers. Wonder why?

Bill could you please post on your site the government records application the defense lawyers filed last week. Mark Hume did a front page story in the Globe and Mail.

In keeping with all your efforts in this case it would allow a lot of us to read the application to stay better informed about the depths to which campbell and his gang will sink to keep valuable and important information out of the hands of the defendants and the people of BC.

As much as the public (especially those on BC political blogs) is tiring of the many delays during the pre-trial deliberations regarding Basi/Virk, have we forgotten that to proceed with the actual TRIAL, there must be a means to find jury material that hasn't been tampered with by the Press. "Press" being blogs and daily newspapers/television (which all have their own blogs as well speaking out on the subject).

Is this what is going to break the camel's back and send Basi/Virk (and their defence team) packing their bags for well funded vacations, paid for by taxpayers?

Bill Tieleman and Senator Larry Campbell, former Vancouver mayor

Jim Sinclair, Cindy Oliver, Ken Georgetti and Bill Tieleman

Bill Tieleman's coverage of the Basi-Virk/BC Legislature Raid Case praised by other journalists:

"This outstanding piece of journalism, in The Tyee, is the work of a journalist who has been deeply involved with this issue from the start and this article should be passed on as far and wide as possible."

"Bill Tieleman from 24 hours . . . . If you want to know about this trial and about this case, you have to read his blog – I mean, that’s just all there is to it – it’s required reading if you want to understand the BC Legislature Raid situation."

- Mike Smyth, columnist, The Province

"The Basi-Virk case....you’ve probably sat through more of these hearings and gone through more of the files and written about it than any other journalist in the province."

- Bill Good, host, The Bill Good Show, CKNW/Corus Radio Network

"Tieleman ...has done a first-rate job covering the trial."

- Paul Willcocks, columnist, the Victoria Times-Colonist

"Tieleman, who marries a considerable journalistic talent with one of the smartest political minds in the province, has been writing more web-exclusive material. And his coverage of the Basi-Virk trial is a must-read -- whether you're an insider or an outsider."

"24 Hours, the Vancouver paper that has been leading the coverage, as well as the hints of conspiracy in B.C."

- Norman Spector, columnist, Globe and Mail

"Although the major media in this circumstance has been giving the case significant coverage, Tieleman's reports on his blog have been outstanding.

The entire cut and thrust of legal wrangling and arguments has been covered and is accompanied by considered analysis.....His blog site coverage of the Basi-Virk trial is the most in depth treatment of one of British Columbia's biggest political scandals."

- Bill Bell, columnist, The North Shore News

"Mr. Tieleman has published online dispatches which, freed from the limitations of newsprint space or broadcast time, can run at length. They also remain available for those select readers who become obsessed with a case also known as Railgate.....

In another bizarre twist to a story with no shortage of them, Mr. Tieleman went to work one day in December only to discover his office had been ransacked. Bookcases had been tipped over and papers strewn, but nothing was missing.

To top it off, a press kit for the self-published novel The Raid, written by a retired military officer in Metchosin and featuring on its cover a photograph from the 2003 police raid, had been left in a conspicuous place."

- Tom Hawthorn, columnist, The Globe and Mail

Nobody has followed the Basi-Virk affair over its past five years with greater diligence than local journalist, Bill Tieleman....Tieleman deserves our thanks, a fistful of journalism awards and some merit citation for citizenship.